STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: RISE OF THE EMPIRE
by DhuryamDhuryam
Summary: Was called Emperor of Darkness. Post CRUCIBLE: Part 2 of my FOTJ continuation. 55 ABY: Accused of the assassination of Chief of State Turk Brand, Allana Solo is on the run with Thrace. And an unexpected ally will come to their aid. Darth Krayt forms an alliance with Moff Lecersen. A mysterious new Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld will put his own plans into motion.
1. Chapter 1

Dramatis Personae

Allana Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)

Ben Skywalker; Jedi Knight (male human)

Darth Krayt; Sith Lord (male human)

Darth Plagueis; Sith Lord (male dark side manifestation)

Dif Scaur; Galactic Alliance Intelligence Director (male human)

Han Solo; Captain, _Millennium Falcon_ (male human)

Leia Organa Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)

Luke Skywalker; Jedi Grand Master (male human)

Nek Bwua'tu; Galactic Alliance Admiral (male Bothan)

Seff Hellin; Jedi Knight (male human)

Thrace Solusar; Jedi Knight (male Chiss)

Vestara Khai; Sith Saber (female human)

**54 ABY: Kuat**

The Sith Meditation Sphere, resembling the eye liberated from some great beast, sped away from the dying Trade Federation control ship. In the chaos of the battle, no one would pay any mind to the peculiar. Not even the Jedi would notice, not through the suffering of so many clones. Even so the sentient vessel, uncreatively named _Ship_ , elected to use the surrounding ships for cover as he approached the perimeter of Kuat's gravity well.

The Sith Lord, Darth Krayt sat cross legged in the center of the Sith Meditation Sphere. Curled up beside him, and wrapped in his robe, lay a young woman with long, red hair. She slept peacefully, now that she was no longer being tormented to provide a starship with extra power.

Krayt had been her salvation, freeing her from that maturation tank which had been her prison. The girl owed Krayt her life. He would, thus, have her full loyalty.

**55 ABY: _Minotaur_: Orbiting Bastion**

"I don't know what it is, sir. But it's definitely not Yuuzhan Vong," the security chief told Moff Drikl Lecersen. Whatever it was looked like a giant eye that had been gouged out of the face of some monster. Connected to it were four appendages resembling bat wings. The grotesque thing hovered a meter or so above the flight deck.

"And as for how it got in," the security officer continued, "it must use some sort of cloaking tech. Or maybe some sort of sensor disrupting device."

A tongue shaped section of the spherical hull suddenly folded down into a boarding ramp. A human man with a tattooed face walked calmly down it. Once on the flight deck he smiled at one of the security cameras and pulled out what looked like a lightsaber. A red shaft of light materialized a split second later.

"Or maybe the Force," Lecersen said. "And judging by that red lightsaber, I'd say the dark side."

"I know you're watching me Moff Lecersen," said the strange man. "I would very much like to speak with you, sir."

The security officer turned to Lecersen. "Do you think that's wise, sir?"

"If he'd wanted me dead, I imagine I'd already be dead."

"You're very correct, sir," said the tattooed man.

The security officer turned toward Lecersen, frowning. "How did he..."

"He didn't," the Moff reassured him. "They can't read minds." He sure hoped they couldn't. He'd heard that they could read emotions, which sometimes enabled them to guess what another was thinking. "It's called deduction, young man."

Lecersen keyed on the intercom. "I am willing to speak with you. What shall I call you?"

"Darth Krayt," the man said, with a formal bow.

* * *

**Drikl Lecersen** suppressed a shudder as a young woman with long red hair, a cute button nose, and gray eyes walked down the boarding ramp. Allana Solo, the same girl he'd tried to kill over a decade ago. No, that made no sense at all.

"You needn't be concerned, Moff Lecersen. Had this been Allana Solo, I'd be presenting you with her corpse."

"A clone, then," Lecersen reasoned.

Darth Krayt nodded. "There were plenty of her clones in existence about a year ago."

Lecersen thought back to the conflict against several fleets' worth of Clone Wars era droid ships. The ships had been under the control of some strange Force entity named Abeloth, and clones of Allana Solo had been used to provide them with extra power.

Lecersen did not relish the memory of that conflict. Imperial Head of State, Vitor Reige, had sent Lecersen's forces to assist the Alliance, hoping the Moff would get killed in action. And then his fleet had almost been wiped out when the mutt, Bwua'tu had attempted to retreat.

"I am Darth Ceivious," the girl said as she walked over to the Moff.

"I have plans for Darth Ceivious that will benefit both of us. I understand that you once tried to kill Allana Solo. And I have had visions of her as the future queen of the Jedi. So we share a mutual enemy. If we work together we can return the Empire to what it once was; it could be greater. We both want the same thing: order. And that can be achieved only if the galaxy is under the rule of a durasteel fist."

"And, if I were to refuse will you kill me?"

"No, because you are still an enemy of my enemies. But, things would not go well with us."

**Kuat: Government District**

Lieutenant Jate Redman could not believe it. Allana Solo. Though he greatly admired her and the other Jedi, he preferred not to keep company with them. Trouble seemed to follow them like a lost nexu cub. "What may I do for you, milady?" And of course he had to be a complete dork about meeting one of his heroes.

"I need to speak with Chief of State Brand. It's very important."

"Uh. He's quite busy right now. Perhaps I could relay a message?"

"It's highly classified."

"Well, in that case I'd prefer not to know," he said with an awkward laugh. "I shall escort you."

"The architecture of this building is beautiful," Allana commented as they walked toward their destination.

"It's amazing what one can do with stone. Stone is dirt, really. Put under incredible pressure. A bit like Turk Brand," he said with that same awkward laugh. The man stepped toward a wooden door and pressed a small silver button. "I have Allana Solo here. She wishes to speak with you regarding a classified matter.

"Send her in," responded a male voice. The door quietly slid open a couple seconds later.

"Wooden doors are such a lovely touch," Allana said as she walked into the Chief of State's office.

Seated behind a large desk with stacks of flimsies, datapads, and data cards, Turk Brand was quite fit for his age and still had a full head of hair. Brand was in his fifth year as the Galactic Alliance Chief of State. He'd held many different positions throughout his life but, until a few years ago, he'd never dreamed he'd become so involved in politics, let alone that he'd become the leader of an entire nation.

Brand would have preferred to still be in command of a fleet, or at least a single. But, despite the fact that his hunches in combat had often led to victory, his military tactics had often been described as reckless.

Turk Brand frowned as he began reading a bill regarding an experimental drug called Midichlore. The name, alone, gave him pause. It sounded an awful lot like midichlorian. Enough of those in one's body would enable the individual to use the Force. And that was just what this drug would do. Too dangerous. While it could result in many more Jedi, it could also result in more Sith. And from what he'd learned, just one Sith could do more harm than a hundred Jedi could do good.

The Chief of State looked up at Allana Solo as she walked toward his desk, and the door closed. "What can I do for you?"

She clenched her left fist. A cracking sound came from the man's neck. And as he slumped forward she used the Force to gently lower his head to the table.

Jate frowned. They were taking an awfully long time in there. He went to the door and knocked. No response. He let the scanner pass over his eye again. Jate went into a cold sweat when he saw Herbert Brand slumped forward upon his desk. Allana was nowhere to be seen. As he ran over to the Chief of State, he noticed that one of the windows had a hole in it. He put two fingers on the side of Brand's neck. No pulse. The Chief of State was dead.

**Hapes Consortium **

Admiral Gavin Darklighter frowned at the screen. He glanced up at Allana and Thrace. "Any idea how the Hapan Freedom Federation's getting supplies through our blockade?"

Thrace looked thoughtful. "_We_ used StealthXs on our recon runs. Maybe they have stealth tech, too."

"Or," Allana said, "there could be Sith involved."

Gavin frowned and looked at Thrace. "I hope _you're_ right."

Thrace did not respond, but seemed to be staring off into space. "Bugger," he muttered. "Something's wrong."

Thrace leapt up onto the table. "Can't use obvious exits," he explained as his lightsaber _snap-hissed_ to life. Allana activated her own lightsaber, and joined the Chiss Jedi atop the table. A couple seconds later, a roughly circular section of the ceiling fell to the table and the two scrambled into the newly made hole.

Gavin swung his gaze to the hole in the ceiling as the door whooshed open. Several YVH droids barged into his quarters. "They went up there," the admiral said uselessly. The droids would have already found the Jedis' heat signatures. The YVHs' right forearms reconfigured themselves into high powered laser cannons as they pointed them up toward the ceiling.

Moving like zombies in some horror film, Allana and Thrace scuttled through the area above the ceiling, toward the nearest hangar bay. It wasn't where the StealthXs had been; they would likely have already been sabotaged. Or worse, planted with tracking devices.

Allana suddenly rolled to the side, while still scrambling forward, a split second before a flurry of red energy bolts shot up through the 'floor'. Thrace similarly evaded more fire. Allana grimaced as she felt something hot graze her calf; or was it Thrace's calf? With the strength of their Force bond it was hard to tell. It was irrelevant, at any rate.

As the two Jedi evaded another barrage of laser fire, Thrace's prosthetic left arm seemed to partially disassemble itself and reform into a blaster muzzle. He pointed it at the 'floor' and shot off a silvery orb of plasma. There was a loud sparking sound, followed by a thump as one of the YVHs crashed to the real floor below.

Allana and Thrace, who managed to down a couple more YVHs, continued on toward the hangar bay. "We're there," Thrace said, after what seemed like hours. They made another hole in the 'floor', and dropped down into a maintenance room.

Stun rifles screamed to life as Allana and Thrace-who now had both sides of his saberstaff activated-stepped out into the hangar. Alliance guards fell to the floor as the two Jedi deflected a number of stun beams back toward their sources. The two Jedi made their way over to a _Lambda_-class shuttle. Allana sensed a man already inside. "Out!" she ordered, as she and Thrace ran up the boarding ramp. "Jedi business." Without a word the man jumped out of his seat, and was stumbling off the boarding ramp just as it was starting to close up. The shuttle was up on its repulsors and firing at the remaining YVHs, in under a second.

Allana, at the helm, brought the _Lambda_-class shuttle through the magcon field and out into the empty vastness of space. The shuttle whipped along the underside of the Star Destroyer, headed toward the stern.

"They're scrambling fighters," Thrace noted. Seconds after speaking, he felt several lifeless points of energy rapidly approaching the shuttle. Proton torpedoes. The Chiss Jedi was certain that the pilots had been ordered to destroy the shuttle. He reached out toward two of them and _squeezed_. There was an impact and an alarm began to wail. But after no more hits, Thrace was convinced that he'd taken out all the other torpedoes. Not long afterward the stars elongated into lines, and then melted into the grayish abyss of hyperspace.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Maw**

"The two Jedi managed to escape," the reporter was saying. "There has yet to be any word of their whereabouts," she continued.

Corran frowned and turned off the broadcast and turned toward Luke.

The older Jedi Master shook his head. "I haven't heard back from them. I believe the dark man is behind this, and Allana and Thrace have to believe that, too."

"So they're hiding in the Force," Ben reasoned.

"Dif's gonna use this whole thing as an excuse to come after us," Corran said grimly. "We need to be gone before he decides to arrest us. If we resist arrest it will only make us look guilty. And if we allow ourselves to be arrested… we won't be able to investigate whatever's going on here."

"That would make us an easy target for the Sith," Luke said.

"Or Dif," Ben suggested. "He was pushing for that Alpha Red stuff near the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War."

Luke sighed. "And if he had enough public support, he wouldn't need to be covert about it, either."

"And then it's only a matter of time before Scaur decides the Jedi Academies are a threat," Corran said. "Dif was more than willing to murder Yuuzhan Vong children. So we need to move them."

"Just putting it out there," Ben said. "What if we put the academy on the _Errant Venture_?"

"You mean that big, _red_ Star Destroyer?" Luke asked.

Ben frowned. "I see your point."

"It could still work," Seff Hellin said. "Season four, episode seven of _Tumbler Tuggers_. Basically, a tutorial on how to get paint off of a starship. The _Errant Venture_ was painted that color, right?"

Corran nodded. "Mirax won't like it. But she'd like a lot of dead Jedi a heck of a lot less."

* * *

**It was** a bizarre sight. Freighters and other ships belonging to the Jedi and some of their friends flitting around the _Errant Venture_, firing temporarily modified ion cannons. But the crimson paint flaking off the Star Destroyer's hull made it apparent that it was working.

**_Coruscanti Phoenix_: Orbiting Adumar**

Admiral Nek Bwua'tu currently had a fleet stationed at Adumar over concerns that the nearby Imperial fleet that had been at Dathomir for the past three days was preparing to take the world. Adumar was still far less advanced than many other planets. And thus was a reasonable target.

Only hours ago, Dif Scaur had contacted Bwua'tu with the news that Allana Solo had murdered Chief of State Turk Brand. Bwua'tu had mentioned that Allana had been cloned, hundreds of times over, and that one of the clones was likely the culprit, but the Director of Intelligence would not hear it. The man was so hateful of the Jedi that he wouldn't care what the truth was. Dif was possibly even glad that the Chief of State was assassinated since it would give him an excuse to hate the Jedi. The Jedi would never be responsible for, or sanction such a thing. Not unless Dif was some sort of Sith Lord; he certainly acted like one at times.

Nek Bwua'tu shook his head. If he stood by the Jedi, then that could give Scaur a reason to come after him. But unless Scaur had someone who could replace him…

**Coruscant**

After the devastation of the previous year the former capital of the Galactic Alliance had been reduced to a planet sized slum. Most of the cityscape covering Coruscant now resembled ancient ruins. In one of these decrepit buildings, with its wings folded up, rested a _Lambda_-class shuttle. Allana and Thrace sat on one of the vessel's shuttles bench seats.

"It's starting to look like I'm not meant to be the queen of Hapes," Allana suddenly commented.

"You're already going to be the Queen of the Jedi," Thrace said.

Allana sighed. "Not if I get killed first."

"I won't let that happen." Thrace squeezed her hand. "We ought to get some food. I'm sure there are some makeshift restaurants around."

"We don't exactly blend in," Allana said with a frown.

* * *

**Allana and** Thrace traveled through a series of grimy corridors and hallways. Located within the depths of the planet-sized city that was Coruscant, the Underworld as it was called was fraught with danger. There were native creatures such as slashrats and others resulting from genetic experimentation, and not just from this galaxy but also from the galaxy that had long ago been home to the Yuuzhan Vong. Also courtesy of the extra galactic race were predatory plants. And lastly there were the sapient beings which had devolved into non-sentience or near non-sentience. It was in one of these vile recesses that the slum that was Stagnation was situated.

A sickly yellow-green light illuminated sickly yellow-green walls. In most of the cracks lived some sort of lichens or fungi. And the stagnant breeze did little to alleviate the oppressive humidity in this area of Coruscant's bowels. Every once and a while a critter resembling a mass of thin, needle-like legs would scuttle out of one crevice and into another. Or a set of antennae would poke out of a crack only to be pulled back in. Allana, who generally didn't mind such creatures, felt itchy.

There were very few people in this area, making it extremely unlikely that anyone would recognize the two Jedi as fugitives. Most of the beings stuck on Coruscant wouldn't even know of the Chief of State's assassination. But according to Murdoch's Law, had Allana and Thrace been daft enough to leave the Underworld without adequate camouflage, they would certainly cross paths with one of the few people who had heard the news.

"It was good doing business with you," said the shop owner, a male Togarian named Dorgan. He wore dark gray boots and a brown robe sashed around the waist by a thick belt. A heavy blaster hung from one side, and some rifle from the other.

"Likewise," Thrace told the male Togarian. He felt a Force nudge from Allana and nodded in agreement.

"You're going to forget you ever saw us," the two Jedi said in unison.

"I'm going to forget I ever saw you," whispered the Dorgan conspiratorially.

Dorgan frowned at the two hooded figures exiting his store. He looked down at his comlink. The two of them had at least paid. But why couldn't he remember them? He shrugged; they couldn't have been that important.

* * *

**"Ever had** a slashrat burger?" Thrace asked as he and Allana walked toward a nearby diner. His danger sensed suddenly screamed at him.

"Well, there was this one restaurant called Dirk's. I ordered what was supposed to be a nerf burger, but it tasted-" Her last word devolved into a shriek as she fell to the ground with a net of blue energy dancing across her body.

Thrace reached out in the Force and slowed her descent. And the blue lightning died away. Another bolt came toward Thrace and he deflected it into the ground with his lightsaber. At the same time, he used the Force to whip his robe off; it wouldn't do for it to get stuck on something. Another blade, this one red, _snap-hissed_ to life. Thrace Force-yanked and a woman in a black jumpsuit rolled out of the shadows and came up in a fighting stance. The woman had long dark hair and a small scar at the side of her mouth that sort of made her look like she was smiling. Vestara Khai.

Thrace batted back another volley of Force lightning and grabbed Allana's blaster with the Force. Vestara began to block red lances of energy as the Chiss Jedi opened fire. He felt his opponent reaching toward him in the Force and put up a shield to keep her from telekinetically snapping his neck.

The Sith slashed at him and he spun away, firing at her behind his back and blocking an arc of blue lightning as he finished the spin. Thrace twitched his right pinkie finger and Allana slid back behind him. He then charged at Vestara, blocking blue energy with his lightsaber and firing red laser bolts.

Aided by the Force, Thrace leapt into the air and slashed down with his lightsaber. Vestara blocked fiercely and Thrace pushed down with his lightsaber, adding more force to his flip.

A multitude of tiny panels began shifting on Thrace's prosthetic left arm and his hand, which had dropped the blaster, was replaced by a blaster muzzle. As he came down to the ground he twisted to face the Sith Saber. A silver burst of energy shot out of the muzzle and though she was able to block, the force of the impact knocked her to the ground.

As he charged forward, Thrace used the Force to drag the Sith closer to him, and farther from Allana. He fired another burst of silver energy and Vestara caught it on her crimson lightsaber. She used the Force of the impact to aid in a backward flip that brought her to her feet.

They leapt toward each other and lightsabers clashed, throwing off a shower of sparks. The Sith Force-pushed further off of the ground and slammed her knee into Thrace's chin. Still in the air he began to fall backward. He put up a shield of Force energy to lessen the effects of the Force lightning that came a second later. He hit the ground with a thump, and barely managed to use the Force to keep his head from slamming into the ferrocrete. As Thrace blocked another bolt of Force lightning the Sith brought her lightsaber toward Thrace's head. Using the Force she yanked his lightsaber from his grasp.

Panels on Thrace's prosthetic left forearm shifted again, and the muzzle of the plasma cannon was replaced by a long beskar blade. As it clashed with the incoming lightsaber it began turning a tiny bit orange. Of course. Many of the lightsabers produced on Kesh, Vestara's homeworld burned hotter than most; they could cut through stronger materials. Including beskar, he decided as the red lightsaber slowly began cutting through his blade.

Thrace saw a small dagger with an elegant glass blade float out of a small boot holster and sail toward his neck. He reached out in the Force and grabbed the shikkar, to kill _her_ with it instead. As the two fought over the shikkar the Sith's red blade continued to cut through his beskar blade. Thrace would tire before his opponent did. Then he'd be dead, and so would Allana.

Suddenly, Vestara flew backward on an arc of dark blue Force lightning. Thrace glimpsed a man chasing her into the shadows. There was the buzzing of clashing lightsabers and flashes of blue lightning. Then footfalls.

A blue hand reached out to Thrace and helped him up. He half ran, half stumbled over to Allana's unconscious form.

"My ship the _Sarlagesus_ is coming. She'll be safe there." He stooped down and picked Allana up.

Thrace looked up to see a large black vessel descending from the sky. It resembled a freighter version of a B-wing, with the cockpit at the top of a blade-shaped ship. It leaned to the right, and continued until it came to hover a meter or so above the ground. It consisted of a cockpit like that of a YT freighter attached to a long, tapering cone. A curved section started at the rear of the cone and flared outward until its pointed tip terminated a few meters across from the approximate middle of the cockpit. It was clearly a custom job. Situated just aft of the cockpit was a docking ring, similar to one on the _Millennium Falcon_. A ramp lowered itself to the ground from the 'bottom' of this docking ring.

"She has an EV droid brain," the older man said. "Perhaps, you've heard of EV 99."

"Of course," Thrace said. A programming glitch had made her cruel. And she had enjoyed torturing other droids.

"This one's friendlier," he addressed Thrace's disapproving look. "Her name's Evelyn."

Thrace followed him up the boarding ramp, and was greeted by a destroyer droid. He stared at it. The last time he'd encountered one of those things it had tried to kill him.

"The droideka's under Evelyn's control. As are the eleven buzz droids."

Thrace followed the Chiss man up the ramp. He placed Allana in the rear left seat and dropped into the pilot's seat.

Thrace took the seat next to him. "That was Vestara Khai," he said as the _Sarlagesus_ lifted into the sky.

The stars suddenly started rotating. Thrace glanced to his right. There was a pair of grooves. His eyes followed the track up and over to the left, beyond the mysterious Chiss man. The effect was that of the rotating cockpit of the B-wing, except that it was only the seats inside which rotated. And then Thrace noticed that the front of the cockpit was clear, except for the alloy of the support structure, like an observation dome. A few minutes later, the vessel was in hyperspace.

Thrace stared at his and Allana's rescuer a few moments. The man wore black jeans and a black coat with metal studs on the shoulders. His hair and beard were long and unkempt, though clean. He looked like a member of a speeder bike gang who made credits as a drummer in a grunge band. In the Force Thrace could feel quite a bit of darkness in the man. But it wasn't the hateful, angry darkness of the Sith woman who'd just tried to murder him. It was more of a sad, lonely darkness.

And then Thrace tried to imagine the man without his long beard and mustache. The face he pictured in his mind was Thorden's. But he had died the year before when his Star Destroyer, the _Duinwoguin_ had crashed into the _Vanquisher_. And Thrace hadn't detected the least bit of Force sensitivity in him.

Thrace suddenly had a vision of this same Chiss man, though younger, standing beside a dead Chiss woman. There was a lightsaber wound where her heart was. Someone else was there, too. Someone in a black robe. Thrace could not see his face. "You're my…"

"Father? Yes."

"You… did kill her." Part of Thrace wanted to _reach_ out and tear the man's head off. But another part realized that there was more to the story. More he needed to know before he reacted.

"I didn't have a choice."

**46 ABY**

Thorden could feel Darth Plagueis' dark, undead presence inside his house. His wife Chaf'aria'nagaru was also there, frightened almost to death. Thorden leapt up out of his seat and scrambled over to the left airlock. The door opened a moment later, and the Chiss fleet commander jumped several meters down to the ground. His twin lightsabers were _snap-hissing_ to crimson life before his boots even made contact with the grass. The lightsabers' humming heightened slightly in pitch as the blades turned silver and lengthened. Thorden called on the Force to enhance his speed as he ran toward the log cabin. He focused on the front door as it came into view, and it exploded into hundreds of thousands of wooden splinters.

Fariana stood pinned against one of the walls by an invisible net of energy. Several cooking knives were hovering around her. Darth Plagueis stood nearby, his lightsaber humming softly. "What in the Void is this!" Thorden demanded angrily.

Even without the Force, he'd have been able to feel her primal terror and profound confusion. How were those bloody knives levitating? What was her husband doing with the robed nutter holding the red glowing thing? And what were those silver things her husband had in his hands?

"I think you know," Darth Plagueis said. "You need to devote yourself fully to your appointed task."

"That doesn't mean she has to die," Thorden pleaded. "I can erase her memory. She won't remember me. And I'll never come back."

Plagueis shook his head. "But over time it would all be undone by your son. She would eventually remember that you're the boy's father. Nor could we simply take the child away. The child is too much a part of her life for that to work." The knives moved closer. One of them scraped against Fariana's cheek, drawing a small amount of blood. "I can do it for you," the dark man offered. The knives came even closer, and one of them pressed into her shoulder. "But it will be slow. Painful. Or you can do it, however you like. The choice is yours."

"Why are you doing this?"

"It is a test, to see if you'll be able to do what's necessary."

Mith'ord'envar felt a lump form in his throat. Plagueis had told him that he would eventually have to give up his attachments. But, he had never dreamed that it would mean this. To murder the woman he loved, the mother of his son. But he had to do it; if he didn't…

Thorden looked at his wife, and then at Plagueis. There was no way he could fight this… this undead man and win. He walked over to Fariana, and gently stroked her cheek. Fariana calmed down slightly as the knives fell to the floor. He looked into her beautiful crimson eyes. "I never thought this would happen," he told her. "I'm so sorry." He glanced at Plagueis and then turned back to Fariana. "I have to do this or... he will."

Mitth'ord'envar wiped some of the tears from Chaf'aria'nagaru's eyes, and embraced her. He shut off one of his lightsabers and then held the pommel against her chest, over her heart. His wife wasn't angry with him, just terrified and sad. Thorden kissed her, and then pressed the activation stud on his lightsaber. Fariana gave a startled cry as the red blade _snap-hissed_ to life, burned through her heart, and out of her back. Thorden held on to his wife as her life force faded into oblivion. He had just murdered his soul-mate.

His son Mitth'rae'sevris just happened to walk out into the hallway, to see his father laying his mother's dead body onto the floor. The boy suddenly screamed and began to cry. Darth Plagueis was there beside him, almost in an instant. "Wait!" Thorden shouted.

The Sith Lord turned his absence of a face toward his apprentice. "The child saw what you did," he said darkly.

"He doesn't have to remember," Thorden pleaded. "You can't take my son from me, too. I'll have no reason to help you." Darth Plagueis had told him of the Grand Plan, of how it would eventually bring peace to the galaxy. Thorden had wanted that, if not for Thraes, then for his children. A galaxy in which they could grow up and not have to worry about war, or terrorism.

"Wipe his memory, then," Plagueis said. "But he must never learn what happened here. If he does…"

"I know." Darth Plagueis stepped away as Thorden walked over to his son. He picked Thraes up and put a hand on his son's forehead. Thorden talked to the child a moment, and the boy's eyes became heavy. The Chiss fleet commander held his son as he drifted off to sleep, and then gently placed the child on the floor.

"We must go, before he wakes up," Plagueis prompted.

**55 ABY**

"You were working with a bloody Sith Lord," Thrace said, accusation in his tone. His father frowned at the floor; Thrace could practically smell the guilt wafting off of the man.

"I had all this power," Thorden said, "and... I didn't know how to use it. So I reached out, for someone to teach me. And... Plagueis was the only one who responded. I wanted to use that power to protect my family, and my people. If I'd known what he was going to make me do...

"He told me that I'd have to make a sacrifice. I thought that meant that I'd have to go away and perhaps never see you or your mother again. And I was willing to do that if that was what it took to protect you. But the Sith had something else in mind. He had me do horrible things. I realized I couldn't go on like that anymore. He told me he'd be waiting when I changed my mind, but I never did. I'm so glad someone taught you the right way to use the Force."

Thrace found himself speechless, and felt the heat of his anger begin to cool. He'd despised his father for so long. He hadn't understood, and hadn't wanted to, what the man had gone through. Thrace glanced over at Allana. She was the most important person in his life. He couldn't imagine how it would destroy him if someone forced him to kill her.

Thorden followed Thrace's gaze. "Plagueis... wanted me to kill her. He threatened to kill you if I didn't do it. But then I sensed that someone had found you."

"Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben," Thrace said. "Allana told me about you, said you made her nervous."

"Plagueis said she was going to be the Queen of the Jedi, and that if something wasn't done about her that the galaxy would be doomed to eternal war."

"Darth Plagueis is the dark man, then," Thrace said, somewhat to himself.

"Well, he was literal darkness," Thorden said, slightly perplexed.

"Luke Skywalker had a vision about Allana and this dark man fighting for the Throne of Balance," Thrace explained.

Thorden looked slightly mortified. "If I had killed her..."

"the Sith would end up ruling the galaxy," Thrace finished. "And I have a bloody good feeling the dark man would be worse than Palpatine."

"I sense a strong bond between the two of you," Thorden said.

Thrace nodded. "Allana was captured by the droids; that's how all those clones were created. I was on a team of Jedi who rescued her. She was dying so I created what I thought was just a Force meld in order to save her. But it turned out to be a Force bond."

"And you didn't know whether or not your feelings for each other were just because of that Force bond."

"Right," Thrace said. "So you're saying that's it's not just the Force bond."

"Correct. Don't wait too long. We never know how much time we'll have with the people we love."

Thrace looked back at Allana's sleeping form again. He knew he loved her, but he'd thought it was more like love between a brother and sister. A very cute sister. "So," he said after a moment of silence, "I'm related to Thrawn and Formbi."

"Formbi, yes. But not Thrawn. I'm the son of his adopted brother, Thrass," Thorden explained.

"Well, that's a relief," Thrace commented. "I obviously didn't get my Imperial accent from you."

"What Imperial accent?'

"I guess I sort of lost it. Happens when you're around people that talk funny."

Thorden nodded. "Your mother was a liaison to Moff Reige, and had spent a few years as an Imperial citizen. Chaf'orm'bintrano was among the few people who knew of our marriage. It would've been very bad had if a relative of Thrawn had been discovered to have any sort of connection to the Empire. So we decided to live in a rural area, where there weren't many people.

**I look forward to any feedback. Constructive criticism is welcomed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: 'Imperial Star Destroyer' will refer to Star Destroyers possessed by the Empire, not the _Imperial_-class Star Destroyer. The _Imperial_-class Star Destroyer is also called the_ Imperator_-class Star Destroyer, and shall be identified as such.**

**Bastion**

Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld frowned at the screen. "An entire fleet," he said, with his left hand in his pocket.

"I only learned of this about an hour ago," Imperial Head of State Moff Vitor Reige said. "It appears that Bastion has a _second_ shipyard that I was never told about."

"Lecersen could use those ships to reinforce his Dathomir fleet," Gatterweld suggested.

"He intends to take Adumar, then," Reige concluded.

"We need to warn the Galactic Alliance. I'll do that now if you like."

"I'd appreciate that," Vitor Reige said.

Moff Gatterweld got out of his chair, and walked toward the door. He suddenly turned. "Does anyone else know?"

"No. I'm not entirely sure who's working with Lecersen."

"Good," Gatterweld said before leaving the room.

* * *

**"Reige knows,"** said Moff Gatterweld's voice on Drikl Lecersen's comlink.

"Understood," Lecersen responded. "You can consider the job done."

"Good, I knew I could count on you."

* * *

**"What do** you want?" Moff Vitor Reige asked in annoyance of Moff Drikl Lecersen as the Imperial fundamentalist walked into his office a few hours later. Nutters like him were what was wrong with the Empire.

"Is that any way to greet a friend?"

Moff Reige ignored the comment. "Who is your friend?" he asked of the robed figure walking at Lecersen's side. The figure pulled the hood back. Reige stared in disbelief. "It's true then?"

"Of course not," Lecersen said, shaking his head. He gestured to young red haired woman beside him. "This is Lady Ceivious." She frowned at Moff Reige, indicating that he would not work with them. Drikl Lecersen sighed. "Go ahead, milady."

Moff Reige suddenly felt a stinging sensation and found himself unable to breathe. The room seemed to spin, and his vision started to blur… The Moff slumped forward in his chair, and was dead.

**Kuat: Galactic Alliance Intelligence Headquarters**

"We've found Daala, sir."

"Good," Dif Scaur said.

"You want us to take care of her?"

Dif shook his head. "Not yet. I want you to bring her in."

* * *

**"Director Scaur.** This is an unexpected pleasure," Natasi Daala said.

"Save it. The only reason I let you live is because I need your help. I'm sure you know about Allana Solo."

"Of course," she said, with a touch of indignation.

"She escaped arrest with a male Chiss. I have a good idea where they are, but I don't think my people would be up to the task."

"Probably not. They are Jedi, after all."

Dif nodded. "Is there any way you can get in contact with the Mandaloreans?"

Daala laughed, eliciting a frown from the Intelligence Director. "You're the Director of Alliance Intelligence. With all your resources I'm sure you don't need my help."

Dif Scaur nodded. "Yes, I could just order one of my men to put a hole in your head. And with all my resources I'd have no problem finding a way to destroy the body." He shook his head. "But, unfortunately, the Mandalorians are mercenaries and thugs. If the public were to get wind that I was associating with such people, it could seriously damage my reputation."

Daala smiled. "Well, we can't that. I'll need something in return."

"Yes, I'll let you go," Dif conceded.

"Just to find me again, and then kill me?"

"The Jedi have just proven that they cannot be trusted. They are the real enemy here. And I know that Mandalorians have been able to kill Jedi in the past. And since this will likely be an ongoing…"

"Affair?" Daala suggested, eliciting yet another frown from Scaur.

"I will need a reliable way to contact the Mandaloreans. So, can you reach them or not?"

"Of course, but it may take some time."

"You almost make it sound as if you intend to stall," Scaur joked.

"Kill me now and you'll have to get them yourself."

"I _am_ willing to tarnish my reputation if I need to."

Daala nodded. "I can't just comm them, you understand. You will have to let me go and contact them through other means."

Dif Scaur sighed in annoyance. "Do whatever you have to. But you will be followed. Discretely, of course."

**_Poison Moon_**

"There was an unforeseen complication," Vestara told her master Darth Plagueis. "I was about to kill them both. But another Chiss-I think he was a dark Jedi-showed up. I barely got away."

"Retreating is not cowardice when there are no other options available," Plagueis said. "Did you happen to see his face?"

"No."

"That was likely my former apprentice. I suspected that he was still alive. I must apologize for not telling you, but I needed to know how you'd react."

"A test, then," Vestara said.

"Yes," Plagueis said. "You did well." A beep announced an incoming holo-transmission. The Sith Lord moved so that he would be out of view of the caller.

A hologram of a woman in Mandalorian armor, with her helmet off, came to life above the table. "Mirta Gev," Vestara said.

"Hello, Khai. I've been given an assignment that should interest you."

"Go on," Vestara said.

"Do you know who Natasi Daala is?"

Vestara nodded. "Former Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, and former Imperial Admiral." She found the combination rather ironic.

"Daala recently contacted my people. Hours ago, in fact. According to an unnamed source, Allana Solo and a certain male Chiss Jedi are likely on their way to Borleias."

Vestara felt a Force nudge of approval from Darth Plagueis, who stood behind the Mandalorean's hologram. "You'll certainly need my help. I recently encountered the two Jedi on Coruscant. There was another Chiss Jedi with them. Older, probably the younger one's father. I'll be bringing a friend along. Two, if you count our ship."

Gev managed something close to a smile. "I appreciate your help."

"Likewise," Vestara responded. She felt another Force nudge from Plagueis. "My master would like to speak with you."

Keeping his hood up and his head slightly down, so that Mirta Gev could not see the face he did not have, Darth Plagueis walked around to the front of the Mandalorean's hologram. "Hello, Mirta Gev. You may call me Hego Damask. I need you to contact Natasi Daala, if it is possible."

"It is, but it could take a few days."

Plagueis nodded fractionally, in understanding. "We need the identity of her unnamed source. Both Daala and this source have the potential to be powerful allies. I need you to be careful; this source will more than likely have her under surveillance."

"We have methods of avoiding detection. I will contact Vestara, then, when we have the required information."

"Yes."

**Belkadan**

There was little attention being paid to Belkadan lately. So much was happening deeper in the galaxy that no one really cared about the humble world at the edge of the galaxy. Not too terribly far from Bastion, the world was the perfect temporary headquarters for Moff Lecersen's new empire.

Drikl Lecersen looked through the viewport at the enormous black triangle, floating several kilometers away. He turned to Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld.

"It will only be approximately four more days," Gatterweld said, in response to Lecersen's unasked question.

Lecersen frowned. "Until then, it will be vulnerable. And that's when the Jedi usually strike."

"You needn't worry about that," Gatterweld said, after placing his left hand in his pocket. "I contacted the Alliance just before you had Reige assassinated. I told them about the fleet that _you_ have under construction. And that that fleet will join your fleet at Dathomir. From there you intend to take Adumar."

"That's all true," Lecersen agreed.

"They also know that you intend to turn it into a trap," Moff Gatterweld added.

Lecersen nodded. "I doubt the Alliance could afford not to attack. Our new Star Destroyers will be even more of a threat to the Alliance once they're completed."

"Bwua'tu knows that he has no choice but to attack," Zedekiah Gatterweld said.

"And he'll bring the Jedi so that they can foil my trap," Lecersen added. "I have a rather nasty surprise in store for them."

"No spoilers, please."

"You'd just tell the Alliance, anyway," Lecersen said lightly.

"I would have no choice," Moff Gatterweld agreed. "Gettelles and the other moderates support working with the Alliance partly because it would make you less of a threat to them. If I were discovered withholding such information…"

"They would suspect that we're in league," Lecersen finished.

"And space the both of us," Gatterweld said. "They'll certainly want to space you after news of Reige's assassination gets out."

"And since you've worked closely with Reige…"

Gatterweld nodded. "And there have also been rumors that Reige and I sent your fleet to fight the droids hoping you would fall in battle. I knew you wouldn't, of course." Zedekiah put his hand back in his pocket. "I would never let that happen to one of my closest allies."

"I find that very reassuring. I would give the other Moffs my recommendation that you be the next Imperial Head of State, but…"

"You have an absolutely ghastly reputation," Moff Gatterweld said, laughing. "I've heard many of the Moffs refer to you as a terrorist and a fundamentalist nutter."

"Keep that up, and I _will_ put forward my recommendation," Lecersen mock-threatened.

Zedekiah smiled. "And I'd have absolutely no chance of becoming the next Head of State. Which means the task would likely fall to Gettelles. And he does not share my concern that your death would result in an internal war."

Both Moffs laughed at that.

**_Coruscanti Phoenix_: Orbiting Adumar**

"I received the news that Moff Reige had been assassinated a few hours after Gatterweld contacted me regarding Lecersen's second fleet," Dif Scaur's hologram told Admiral Nek Bwua'tu.

Zedekiah Gatterweld had served as an Ensign aboard the _Iron Fist_, a Super Star Destroyer, under Warlord Zsinj. The man had somehow risen to the rank of Moff, and was an outspoken critic against Lecersen and his extremist views. Gatterweld was also a strong supporter of peaceful relations with the Galactic Alliance.

"I am concerned that this may be a trap," Bwua'tu said. "Lecersen may have purposefully leaked the information knowing that Gatterweld would be obligated to tell us."

"I could send a couple ships directly to Bastion's secondary shipyards so that you could set your own trap," Dif Scaur suggested.

"That would be appreciated. But this could all be a distraction, to draw ships away from Adumar."

"I suspect the same thing," Scaur agreed. "Which is why I am sending more ships there."

"A good decision," Bwua'tu remarked. "When do I launch?"

"Twelve hours and… thirty seven minutes."

**_Errant Venture_**

"Scaur's reinforcements should be there in about twelve hours and twenty three minutes," said Zuul Zuzu's diminutive hologram.

"We'll see what we can do," Luke said. "It'll be tricky, though."

The Sullustan woman nodded understandingly. The majority of Bwua'tu's fleet couldn't be allowed to know that Jedi were involved.

"We have some friends who owe us a few favors," Han added.

"If Bwua'tu's asked about it, he'll have to provide a name or two," Zuul Zuzu said.

"Talon Kardde," Han supplied. "He and the admiral have met before." It was only over the holonet, but it was close enough.

**_Minotaur_**

The ghastly Sith Meditation Sphere hovered silently above the _Minotaur_'s flight deck. Darth Krayt walked up _Ship_'s boarding ramp, which folded up into the ship a second later. The Meditation Sphere would remain aboard the Star Destroyer not out of cowardice, as the Sith Lord had explained to Moff Lecersen, but because Krayt's ability to pilot a fighter would be significantly compromised while he was coordinating the Imperial forces.

Darth Krayt could feel thousands more lives as the Galactic Alliance fleet dropped out of hyperspace. The Sith Lord reached out toward his Imperial forces. He went into their minds, and began exerting his own will. These lesser beings would still be able to make most of their own decisions; Krayt would simply be guiding them. Their odds of survival would be significantly increased. And yet they'd be outraged if they knew what the Sith Lord was doing. _People can be so irrational._

**Bastion shipyards**

A couple minutes ago six Galactic Alliance Star Destroyers had dropped out of hyperspace and begun destroying the Empire's destroyers. As he watched another Imperial vessel detonate, through a verdant haze of light, Admiral Bwua'tu was reminded of when he'd had to destroy the Galactic Alliance Star Destroyers at the Bilbringi shipyards. He had to remind himself that all the suffering this destruction would cause was really Lecersen's fault. That Imperial radical was forcing him to take drastic measures to protect his own people.

"I do not like this," said Zuul Zuzu. That was code for 'I feel something ominous in the Force'.

"Full alert," Admiral Bwua'tu said.

Suddenly, a dozen or so of the incomplete Imperial Star Destroyers began to fill space with green and blue fire. Some of these vessels began moving into positions around the Alliance fleet. As expected the enemy had drawn Bwua'tu's fleet in. And also as had been expected, completed Imperial Star Destroyers started dropping out of hyperspace behind his fleet, and unleashing swarms of TIE Defenders, which were met by squadrons of X-wings.

A pair of Alliance Star Destroyers and dozens of fighter squadrons suddenly appeared behind the completed Imperial vessels. With their leftward weapons trenches facing the rear of the enemy flotilla, the two GA Star Destroyers fired away, immediately disabling the engines of two Imperial vessels. X-wings began swarming about those two enemy Star Destroyers like angry piranha beetles. The fighters zipped away from one of the Destroyers seconds before it exploded.

A swarm of TIE Defenders, headed toward the two GA Star Destroyers was met by a larger swarm of X-wings. The Imperial pilots fought as though they shared one mind. They seemed to anticipate the actions of the Alliance pilots. The Imperial forces would concentrate their fire on just a few X-wings at a time. Many of the TIE Defenders managed to take out multiple X-wings before being destroyed themselves. And still some of those TIEs managed to ram some of the X-wings. A number of TIEs managed to break away from the current engagement and went for one of the Alliance Star Destroyers. Most of the X-wing that tried to pick up pursuit were vaped, but those that weren't were met by a small detachment of these TIEs.

Twenty three TIEs were still headed toward one of the GA Star Destroyers. All but five of them managed to scatter, twist, and corkscrew away from turbolaser fire. Nine of the remaining TIEs broke off to deal with an X-wing squadron while the remaining nine focused their efforts on the destroyer. The other Star Destroyer tried in vain to target the TIEs, only managing to damage its partner. Two of the TIEs flew straight into the deflector shield, causing an uncharacteristically large detonation.

The besieged Alliance Star Destroyer lurched forward for the crew, obviously recognizing that they were all going to die anyway, had apparently decided to at least attempt to ram an enemy Star Destroyer. But a number of the Imperial Star Destroyers had managed to turn, bringing flank weapons to bear, and the GA vessel was rendered dead in space before reaching its target.

"We just lost the _Krayt Dragon_," announced Zuul Zuzu. Moments later the bridge of the _Coruscanti Phoenix_ shuddered as something exploded against the deflector shield.

"Four TIEs just crashed into our shield. They were packed with explosives," said another officer. The ship shook again as it sustained more fire, right where the TIEs had crashed. Four more TIEs approached the _Phoenix_. Six X-wings came out to them. Within a minute two of the X-wings exploded; the rest soon followed. And the TIEs continued on toward the _Phoenix_.

Some of the Imperial Star Destroyers appeared to be targeting individual X-wings, as though the TIEs weren't making enough of a killing. Admiral Bwua'tu was very unsettled by the coordination of the enemy Forces.

The admiral remembered Luke Skywalker telling him about a dark man. A Sith, no doubt. These users of the dark side had worked with the Empire before, and it was likely some were doing it now. And, of course he couldn't tell anyone, aside from Zuul Zuzu. Others, especially Director Scaur, might think the Jedi were behind this, and that this dark man was just some cover story. Bwua'tu could see Dif Scaur signing off on his own version of Order 66.

Another Star Destroyer, a light blue and light green Corellian Corvette, and a few assorted freighters suddenly dropped out of hyperspace. This small fleet began to blast away at the right side of the Imperial formation surrounding Bwua'tu's fleet. Nearby Alliance Star Destroyers began focusing more of their fire on this weakened 'wall', hoping to punch out a descent escape corridor. A massive series of explosions suddenly erupted along the hull of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Bwua'tu checked the sensors; they detected nothing. StealthXs.

Two of the TIEs heading for the _Phoenix _suddenly burst into flame. The other pair soon followed. The reprieve allowed the _Phoenix_'s deflector shield to recover enough to prevent another pair of TIEs from crashing through the ship's hull. Just one successful attempt at that could conceivably doom the entire vessel. The unseen StealthXs stayed with Bwua'tu's vessel, continuing to pick off TIEs, to prevent this from happening.

With the help of Karrde's fleet, the remaining three Alliance Star Destroyers were able to break through the Imperial formation and make a run for the edge of Bastion's gravity well. The remnants of Bwua'tu's fleet soon managed to escape to hyperspace and rejoined the ships at Adumar. The majority of Karrde's ships, including the StealthXs and their Jedi pilots, had also escaped, but had obviously reentered realspace at an alternate location.

Admiral Bwua'tu had lost about half his fleet. And his three remaining ships had sustained considerable damage. Hundreds of fighter pilots had also lost their lives. Though the Empire had lost more ships, this battle had not gone well. His attempt to turn the enemy's own trap against them had been anticipated, and used to create an even more devastating trap.

**I hope you like what I've done so far. I'd appreciate your thoughts.**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Sarlagesus_: en route to Borleias**

"You obviously didn't die when the _Duinwoguin_ crashed into the _Vanquisher_," Thrace said as he handed Thorden his lightsaber. His father examined the weapon briefly before activating its primary blade.

"I used a StealthX," Thorden said. "I had an ysalamiri with me so I could stay hidden in the Force." Ysalamiri were reptilian creatures that could create a Force nullifying bubble to hide from vornskrs, their chief predators.

"There was a slight chance that Plagueis would think I'd died," Thorden continued. "It was my best shot at killing him, though I doubt I'd have succeeded." He pressed down a little harder on the lightsaber's activation button. He nodded in approval as a second shaft of golden energy extended from the other side of the weapon. That second emitter nozzle had been concealed by a hologram. And the saberstaff was also the same size as a standard lightsaber.

"It made for some rather interesting sparring matches against Luke Skywalker," Thrace said. "He began noticing that I was making some strange maneuvers with my lightsaber…" He trailed off as he felt Allana waking up. "Welcome back, Button," Thrace said as she opened her gray eyes.

Allana looked over at Thorden.

"Yes," Thrace said. "That is Thorden. And he's my father."

Allana was shocked. Thrace filled her in on what she'd missed.

* * *

**Thrace's danger** sense tingled as the _Sarlagesus_ dropped out of hyperspace near Borleias. "Put up an extra strong Force block," he warned upon feeling the familiar presence of that Barabel Sith. In combat with other Force users, an experienced Jedi or Sith would subconsciously create a protective field of Force energy. Its purpose was generally to protect against telekinetic attacks.

"The Barabel can transmit sickness through the Force," Thrace continued.

"Via the midichlorians, we believe," added Allana.

"Plagueis did a lot of research on them," Thorden commented as he looked at the sensor board. "That YT-4900's the _Eviscerator_. Plagueis used it for a time." It was a rusty grayish color, with some faded purplish lines. The cockpit of this vessel was above and between the two mandibles. The front of the cockpit ended in a dome, which likely housed a small satellite dish. "We've also got some _Besulike_ and a Tra'kad."

"Mandos," Allana grumbled.

"Don't worry," Thorden reassured her. "The _Sarlagesus_ is tougher than she looks."

An armature attached to the top of the copilot seat lowered a small screen in front of Thrace's eyes. 'Top turret' read a tiny display at the bottom left corner. He saw out of the corner of his eye that an identical screen had appeared before Allana's eyes.

The _Sarlagesus_ rocketed toward the enemy ships as though it were a fighter. Lasers, ion cannons, and proton torpedoes shot forth, obliterating two of the Mandalorian fighters.

The _Eviscerator_ turned to engage Thorden's ship, firing both of its turrets. As the YT-4900 closed in on the _Sarlagesus_, Thorden grabbed onto the debris from one of the destroyed _Besulike _and hurled it at another one that was trying to come up behind the _Sarlagesus_. The pilot evaded only to be vaped by the laser turrets. That left five _Besulike_.

The two freighters, uncharacteristically nimble for their size, charged at each other as in a game of gundark. The ships traded fire, and at the last moment both vessels veered off in different directions. They looped around to come at each other again. The slower Tra'kad did its best to remain behind the _Sarlagesus_, taking shots whenever it could.

Thorden expertly maneuvered out of the way of enemy fire, sometimes dodging by less than inch. A fourth_ Besulike_ detonated as Thrace and Allana scored another hit. The Mandalorian fighter spun out of control and plummeted to the surface of Borleias.

The _Sarlagesus_ suddenly shuddered as the _Eviscerator_ and the Tra'kad managed to hit the same portion of its shield. A pair of _Besulike_ followed in their wake and fired at that same spot. There was a shower of sparks, and then a loud bang. Buzz droids scurried about to effect repairs.

"Bugger," Thorden muttered after a glance at the diagnostics screen. "Engines are red," he continued as he whipped the _Sarlagesus_ around and headed toward the surface of Borleias. The ship was too far into the planet's mass shadow to escape to hyperspace.

Thorden felt a sense of alarm and frustration from Thrace and Allana as he shut off the weapons and artificial gravity. Understanding what he was doing, Evelyn shunted that power into the engines. There was a massive series of sparks as the _Sarlagesus_ accelerated forward.

**Borleias**

Thorden, his son, and Allana ran down one of the hotel complex's many corridors, a group of Mandalorians, led by two Sith, in hot pursuit. Rolling along behind the Jedi, under Evelyn's control, was Thorden's destroyer droid. The _Sarlagesus_' droid brain had brought the ship by a rundown apartment complex, where the Jedi had department, and then landed some distance away, to give the buzz droids time to make repairs.

"Other side," Thorden said, looking at the droideka. The droid obediently rolled into the abandoned room, unfolding to take up position behind the wall.

The corridor erupted into a firestorm as Vestara and the Barabel Sith led a group of perhaps ten Mandalorians around the corner. One of the armored mercenaries was knocked off his feet, with a smoking in his chest, as Thrace hit him with a plasma bolt.

Crimson energy bolts were practically bouncing off of Thorden's lightsaber blades as he led the Jedi forward. The two Sith met him in the middle of the corridor. Thrace and Allana went to either side, to engage the Mandalorians.

As Allana charged toward a Mandalorian in blue and orange armor she put part of her right foot into a small hole in the wall. She leapt into air and twisted around, eliciting a snap as she kicked him the back of the neck. She landed to deflect a pair of beskar blades.

Allana felt a sense of warning from Thorden and dropped to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye she saw red energy bolts tear through the wall behind which the droideka had hidden. Within seconds, several Mandalorians lay dead on the floor. The bolts were obviously high powered, or else they would have been ineffectual.

* * *

**Vestara could** sense that Mirta Gev had been injured. Boba Fett's granddaughter could not be allowed to die, lest the Sith potentially lose the support of the Mandalorians. Indeed, it could even turn the Mandalorians into enemies.

She instinctively leapt backward a split second before one of Thorden's red blades suddenly elongated and turned silver. Had Plagueis not warned her about that, she could have been dead. Darth Blight deflected the Chiss's other blade as it, too, made the same change.

A Force nudge from Blight told Vestara that she was free to go after the other Jedi. She gestured toward the wall the destroyer droid had blasted apart. The droid crashed into the opposite wall. The Sith Saber gestured again, and the droid slammed into Allana. The Jedi rolled away and came back to her feet. Vestara charged at the girl.

Seeing that Vestara had things under control, four of the remaining five Mandalorians cautiously moved in on Thrace. The Chiss Jedi knew he could take them, but he doubted Allana would still be alive by then. Blades of metal and light clashed as Thrace steered the fight closer to Allana. He reconfigured his beskar blade back to a hand to grab his lightsaber. He raised his right hand toward Vestara. Indigo fire exploded from his fingertips and slammed into the human Sith.

Allana took advantage of the interruption and advanced on Vestara. The Sith Saber raised her crimson blade into the air just in time to prevent Allana from beheading her.

* * *

**Thrace converted** his forearm back into a beskar blade as he summoned the saberstaff back to his right hand. As he took down one of the Mandalorians, he felt a sense of alarm from his father. Thorden's alarm was not for himself, but for Thrace and Allana. If Thorden died, the others would be next.

So Thrace steered the battle toward the Barabel Sith. He switched the saberstaff back to his left hand again and raised his right hand toward his father's opponent. He let his anger flow into him as dark blue lightning flew from his hand. The Chiss Jedi could feel the dark side of the Force, but he didn't bloody care! The Barabel turned on Thrace. The Chiss Jedi began to feel sick. Before he could raise his hand again, the Sith unleashed his own arc of indigo fire. Thrace's chest erupted into fiery agony as he was struck. Darth Blight then leapt out of the way as Thorden again tried to behead him with one of his silver blades.

Thrace could suddenly feel the _Sarlagesus_ nearby. Through the Jedi Force-meld Thrace could sense that his father felt what he felt. And at the same time, Thrace-and by extension, the other two Jedi-could feel another ship approaching. The three Jedi retreated to the hole the destroyer droid had blown in the wall. Part of the outer wall exploded inward. Hovering beyond, with the left airlock open, was the _Sarlagesus_. Blocking enemy fire as they did so, the Jedi leapt backward into the ship.

**Bastion**

"It is a shame what happened to Reige," Moff Tol Gettelles was saying.

"He was a good man," agreed Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld.

"Just the sort of thing that nutter Lecersen would do."

"Yes," concurred Gatterweld. "But I do not believe he was behind _this_. He knows he'd be the prime suspect for such a brazen act. And he knows he would need more support than he currently has, before he could even hope to stage a successful coop. I believe the Jedi want to start an internal war within the Empire."

Gettelles nodded. "That does make sense. But, then why would the Jedi murder the Alliance's Chief of State?"

"He was open to working with our Empire. Perhaps the Jedi were worried that the Alliance would become a new Empire," suggested Gatterweld.

"And Dif Scaur, although he is an enemy of the Jedi, would never work with the Empire." Gettelles frowned. "Perhaps the Jedi knew, or at least believed, that Dif Scaur would take the Chief of State's place."

"That is very possible."

Moff Gettelles looked thoughtful. "We will have to deal with Lecersen. And the sooner we do so, the better."

"Moff Reige and I had that in mind when we put him in charge of the fleet we sent to aid the Alliance against the droids. If he was occupied there, it would be much harder for him to plan any sort of coop. And if he somehow happened to perish…"

"That Bothan admiral did a valiant job trying to make sure of that," Gettelles commented. "Perhaps he'd be willing to aid us in a strike against…" The Moff reached down under the table and began to furiously scratch his ankle.

"Have an itch?" Gatterweld asked.

"Yes. So as… I was… saying…"

"A strike against Lecersen," Gatterweld finished.

Tol Gettelles nodded. "After I'm done scratching my skin off, perhaps we should grab some lunch."

"I am feeling a bit peckish, myself," Zedekiah Gatterweld agreed. "Do you happen to like glazed nerf?"

* * *

**As the** two Moffs were walking toward Gatterweld's office, Gettelles suddenly collapsed. "Sir?" Gatterweld asked as he knelt beside the man. No response. "We need a medic!" he shouted.

A passing officer opened his comm and relayed the information, as he rushed over to the Moffs. "What happened?"

"We were walking to my office to get some lunch. And he just collapsed. And he seemed perfectly fine."

Zedekiah Gatterweld stood in an autopsy room a few hours later.

"I also thought it was a heart attack," the coroner said, "until I saw this." He lifted part of the sheet covering Gettelles' dead body, and pointed at what appeared to be a tiny injection mark.

"He was poisoned?" Gatterwled asked as he put his hand in his pocket.

"There was no trace of any sort of poison," the coroner said. "But there are some poisons that don't leave a trace."

The coroner's assistant glanced at Gatterweld. "What's in your pocket, sir?"

The Moff took his hand out. It held a green crystal, with some sort of metal curling around it. "A family heirloom. It's been a rather stressful day."

The man nodded. "I understand, sir." He glanced at Gatterweld's boots. "May I see them, sir?"

Gatterweld frowned as he sat down to remove his boots. "I hope you do not suspect me of being a boot bomber," he joked.

The coroner's assistant laughed awkwardly. "No, sir. I'm looking for some sort of needle that could inject poison."

"Ah. But, wouldn't the killer have already disposed of it? Though, I suppose it is _possible_ that they forgot to do so." The Moff handed his boots to the man.

**_Sarlagesus _**

Evelyn had informed Thorden after he, his son, and Allana had boarded the _Sarlagesus_ that the hyperdrive had been severely damaged, and that it would take a while to repair. As a result, the vessel had only been able to remain in hyperspace for a few minutes before the hyperdrive was put in the red.

"I was just so angry," Thrace was saying. "And I didn't just want to protect the two of you," Thrace was saying. "I wanted to _murder_ the Sith and Mandos."

"Luke was concerned that what Thrace had gone through when he was younger would make him more susceptible to the dark side," Allana said.

"And he was right," Thrace added.

Thorden nodded at his son's prosthetic arm a few minutes later. "So how'd that happen?"

"Well, after I got Allana out of the core ship, we weren't cleared to fly. So we were aboard the _Falcon_. The shield was on the verge of failing, so I pumped some extra energy into it. And it turns out that Force lightning is also very effective for cooking meat."

"I felt it happen," Allana added.

"She told me that the meat practically fell off the bone. Just how Han likes his nerf ribs," Thrace said.

Thorden couldn't help but laugh.

"But thank the Force," Thrace continued, "that I was passed out on the deck by then."

**_Coruscanti Phoenix_: Orbiting Adumar**

Yantahar Bwua'tu and Yaqueel Saav'etu walked down the boarding ramp of the _Lambda_-class shuttle onto the _Coruscanti Phoenix's_ flight deck. The two Jedi, after dying their fur, had gone undercover to join Admiral Bwua'tu's security detail. Only hours ago, Luke Skywalker had been contacted by Zuul Zuzu. Galactic Alliance Intelligence had just uncovered a plot to assassinate Admiral Bwua'tu.

A human male in the uniform of a security guard walked up to the two Jedi. He had dark skin and long dreadlocks, with golden beads woven in. "Ziggy Carmichael," he said.

Yantahar brushed him in the Force, but felt no hostility. Of course, with the proper training one could hide such things, even from a Jedi. "Ute'vaas," he said.

"Raha'tnay," Yaqueel said.

Carmichael took their identicards, ran them through a scanner, and handed them back." You're clear," he said. "I'll take ya'll to Admiral Bwua'tu."

The three met up with Admiral Bwua'tu deeper in the ship. Yantahar could feel a sense of recognition from his uncle. The Jedi Knight gave the older Bothan a subtle, reassuring nod. The two ersatz guards introduced themselves. Yantahar felt a sense of amusement from Nek Bwua'tu when Yaqueel gave her fake name, Raha'tnay.

* * *

**It was** quiet as Admiral Bwua'tu and his three guards, sticking about as close as gnats, made their way to the ops room, where Intelligence Director Scaur would most likely be briefing the admiral on the most recent Imperial activity. The corridors through which they passed were mostly deserted. This was when the assassin-hopefully there was only one-would most likely strike. So Yantahar and Yaqueel brushed the minds of the people they passed. Nothing suspicious. Whoever it was would seem completely inconspicuous… So, then who was the most… Carmichael! He was right by the admiral, after all. And he was a human, just like almost everyone else in the Empire.

Yantahar brought his attention to his uncle, while Yaqueel focused her attention outward…

"Down!" Yaqueel shouted, less than a second before the shriek of a discharging weapon, as she spun around. She felt a presence rounding a nearby corner, and chased after the assailant.

Yantahar and Carmichael scrambled over toward Admiral Bwua'tu. He was lying on the ground, bleeding badly from the abdomen. Both guards put their hands on the wound. Yantahar knew it wouldn't be enough. The Bothan Jedi reached out in the Force and put extra pressure on the wound.

Carmichael was talking into his comm, summoning a medical team. He glanced up at Yantahar in a surprise. If the Galactic Alliance found out there was a Jedi in their midst… "I won't say a thing."

Moments later the injured admiral was on a hover gurney being wheeled to the nearest sickbay. Yantahar and Carmichael stayed in the operating room in case someone else decided to finish him off. Surgeons, both living and mechanical operated on Nek. A small, modified tractor beam projector was putting pressure on his wound, which meant that Yantahar didn't have to reveal to anyone else that he was a Jedi.

Yantahar's comlink buzzed. "I got the guy," said Yaqueel's voice. "Stunned him. He'll be interrogated after he wakes up. His name's Julius Meisner."

* * *

**"He's stable,"** one of the surgeons said after… Yantahar wasn't quite sure how long. "I don't know how you guys managed to keep him from bleeding to death."

"Sheer determination, man," said Carmichael.

"We'll stay by his bedside, in case anyone else wants to kill him," Yantahar said.

"A wise decision," agreed the surgeon as she and the two guards got the unconscious admiral into a hospital bed. Yantahar probed the IV solution as one of the orderlies shaved his uncle's hand. Just the typical solution used to keep one hydrated.

"Your name isn't really Ute'vass, is it?" Carmichael asked after everyone else had left.

He shook his head. "Yantahar Bwua'tu."

"His nephew." Carmichael remained silent a few seconds. "You can call me Ziggy. Your friend's a Jedi, too, then?"

Yantahar nodded. "Yaqueel Saav'etu."

Ziggy looked thoughtful. "Are you two..."

"No," Yantahar said, shaking his head. Yaqueel was sweet, and adorable, but she wasn't Kolir. Yantahar had killed Kolir the year before to prevent her body from being possessed by a monstrous being named Abeloth.

It still haunted him, the way he'd killed the girl he'd come to love. He'd used the Force to break her neck. The dark side.

* * *

**Yaqueel walked** into the room an hour or so later. Meisner's dead," she said. "One of his molars was missing, and there was a small hollow space underneath. The coroner thinks there was a kill tab in there."

"I reckon the Empire's got a few more assassins here," Ziggy commented.

Yantahar, Yaqueel, and Ziggy stayed with the admiral throughout the night, taking shifts. Early the next morning a Gotal orderly gave Bwua'tu a new IV bag. Yantahar brushed the bag in the Force. The fluid inside was different; it felt like some sort of venom. Cone snail, perhaps. He reached out to the Gotal woman, while using the Force to stop the liquid from dripping down into the tube. The Jedi felt no hostility from the woman; it was quite possible, even likely, that she didn't know it was poison. The orderly walked off a few moments later. And then the tube disconnected from the bag.

Ziggy looked at the two Bothans. "Poison?"

Yantahar nodded. "Looks like they sent someone to finish the job."

"We should get him out of here."

"I could probably use the Force to make people not notice," Yaqueel offered.

"I got a better idea," Ziggy offered.

A few minutes later Ziggy and Yantahar were half carrying, half dragging a white furred Bothan man in an ensign's uniform toward the nearest hangar bay. The white furred Bothan moved with an unnatural, shuffling gate. Considering that Yantahar was doing that with the Force Yaqueel, who walked behind the trio, was impressed.

"Official business, we can go." Yantahar told one of the officers on duty at the hangar.

"Official business, you can go."

"So it really does work," Ziggy commented as the four entered a transport shuttle.

"It helps to look official," Yaqueel explained.

"Never thought I'd be an accomplice to a kidnapping," Ziggy commented as he started up the shuttle's repulsors. "Especially of a Galactic Alliance admiral."

"Friends of the Jedi get to have all sorts of fun," Yaqueel said as she and Yantahar finished strapping in the unconscious admiral. The two Jedi began rubbing the white paint off Admiral Bwua'tu's face and forearms as the shuttle passed through the magcon field and out into the starry velvet of space. A few minutes later it vanished in a flash of light.


	5. Chapter 5

Coruscant

A burst of light resolved itself into a vessel resembling a flying sarlacc with its wings touching a few kilometers away from Coruscant. The _Sarlagesus_' hyperdrive was yet completely repaired. The arrival of the _Eviscerator_ and four _Besulike_ fighters made it apparent that the Sith also knew this.

The _Sarlagesus_ shook as enemy fire slammed into its deflector shield. Thorden glanced at the diagnostics display and grumbled. The ship suddenly accelerated, pushing Allana back into her seat.

"The weapons and deflector shield need more power. And that can only happen if we shut off life support," Thorden explained. "We'll have to go groundside."

"And I thought the _Falcon_ was bad," Allana muttered. "Won't the Sith stay on their ship, then? They'd be able to destroy the _Sarlagesus_ faster, and then they'd just come after us."

"Evelyn would simply ram the _Eviscerator_. Plagueis knows I'd have a ship with a droid brain programmed to behave in this way. He would surely have informed his fellow Sith." Thorden said. "So they'll be better off coming after us."

"We no longer have a destroyer droid," Thrace said with a frown. "And even if we still did, our enemies would be expecting it."

"That is true," Thorden said. "But we'll be coordinating more efficiently this time. Because of the strength of your Force bond, the two of you automatically coordinate with each other. I was trying to coordinate with you as two separate entities instead of a single unit. So I'll only need roughly half the energy to coordinate."

"So we'll be better able to fight the Sith," Thrace reasoned.

#

The _Sarlagesus_ tilted the left airlock toward the ground as Evelyn brought it over Coruscant's surface. The Jedi jumped out and ran toward a nearby building. The _Sarlagesus_ took off as the _Besulike_ came toward its aft end, on a collision course. The _Eviscerator_ followed close behind.

The _Eviscerator_ and _Sarlagesus_ fought with the viciousness of ancient enemies. The two freighters danced through space as though they were fighters. Sparks erupted from the hulls of both vessels as they traded fire. A massive series of sparks suddenly leapt from the _Sarlagesus'_ hull. As with very intense games of chess, one minor slip up could mean doom. It allowed the opponent to play it safer, to take fewer risks.

The _Sarlagesus _took another hit, and some of the hull plating came off; the deflector shield was weakening under the assault of the _Eviscerator_ and the _Besulike_ fighters. A shower of sparks announced more internal damage within the _Sarlagesus_. A group of buzz droids dutifully skittered over to the damaged area to effect repairs. Evelyn could not let up her firing on the _Eviscerator_, and thus couldn't do much about the pesky _Besulike_. The _Besulike_ continued to pound the _Sarlagesus_, eliciting more showers of sparks.

Two more proton torpedoes slammed into the _Sarlagesus_' deflector shield, which filled the cockpit with even more smoke. Along with the weapons turrets above and below the body of the YT-4900 freighter, a third one had been installed between the mandibles and below the cockpit. Buzz droids scurried around, almost in vain, to the repair the rapidly accumulating damage.

#

"More Mandos," Thorden grumbled. "They'll try to force us into a dead end."

"So we have to meet them head on," Thrace said.

With extra-strong Force blocks, the three Jedi were unable to hide themselves in the Force. The hallway leading from the main entrance connected with another hallway to form a tee-shaped intersection. Thorden waited on one side, while Allana and Thrace waited on the other. The three Jedi ran out into the main hall as Vestara and her Barabel companion led ten Mandalorians through the doors. The shrieking of weapons filled the corridor as fire was exchanged.

Thorden batted fire from the Mandalorians at the two Sith. His son and the girl he had almost murdered years ago went around him to engage the Mandalorians. The two fought as one as blades of metal clashed with blades of light. One would swing one of their weapons and the other would move out of the way just enough to avoid being decapitated. Though not always enough to prevent hair from being cut off.

#

_Shield of Dac_: Orbiting Adumar

General Hiroyuki Niathal watched the Corellian Corvette ascend through the magcon field. Enormous doors closed beneath the smaller ship and it descended some as it settled down upon its landing struts. A boarding ramp extended from the ship a moment later. "Welcome aboard the _Shield of Dac_, Admiral." The Mon Calamari general greeted Nek Bwua'tu as three guards escorted him down the boarding ramp.

"Thank you, General," Admiral Bwua'tu replied. "Any news from Director Scaur?"

Niathal nodded his large bulbous head. "An Imperial fleet is on its way, and should arrive within three and a half hours. I would like to bring you to ops to go over the plans I've drawn up."

Admiral Bwua'tu's three guards remained with him as they followed General Niathal to the ops room. Yantahar walked beside his uncle, allowing the older Bothan man to lean on his right arm.

"I feared you were dead," Niathal said.

"There was another attempt on my life after I was brought to the med bay. These three got me out of there." Bwua'tu indicated the two black furred Bothans and dark skinned human.

#

Admiral Bwua'tu nodded in approval as General Niathal outlined his plan. Bwua'tu made a few seemingly insignificant adjustments, which he promptly explained. "You'll make a fine admiral some day, general."

"Thank you, sir."

"I would like to transfer Zuul Zuzu to your ship," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "She's sort of an apprentice of mine."

#

Coruscant

Allana swung the green blade back, and it went through a Mandalorian's chest. Thrace fired a plasma blast at the last Mandalorian, who went down with a smoking hole in his chest.

The two Jedi Knights then brought their attention to Darth Blight. Leaving Vestara to deal with Thorden, the Barabel Sith turned toward them and raised a clawed hand. Thrace leapt into the air and deflected an arc of blue Force lightning with his lightsaber. Sparks flew as his gold blade clashed with a red blade as he landed.

Allana caught a large arc of indigo fire on her lightsaber, and charged at Darth Blight. The Barabel suddenly spun, slamming his armored tail into Thrace's rib cage. The force of the impact hurled the Chiss Jedi into the nearest wall.

Through her Force bond with Thrace, Allana could feel that none of his ribs had been broken; the Chiss Jedi had obviously created a tensor field. But Allana was still left a tiny bit disoriented. Darth Blight took advantage of this and launched two arcs of Force lightning. Allana blocked one, only to be hit square in the chest by the other.

Thrace switched his saberstaff to his left hand as he returned to his feet. Energy flowed into his right arm as he raised it toward Darth Blight. The Barabel deflected the blue fire and launched his own at Allana. But she deflected it and rolled to her feet.

As the two Jedi moved in on Darth Blight, Thrace returned his saberstaff to his right hand and configured his left forearm into a beskar blade. The Sith's scarlet blade became a blur as he deflected blows from the two Jedi.

Thrace jumped back slightly as the Barabel twitched his tail. He felt like a gundark upon realizing that it had only been a feint. Another arc of blue Force lightning exploded from the Sith's fingertips. The blue energy suddenly changed course as Thrace attempted to lean out of the way. But instead of hitting him in the chest it caught his prosthetic arm. It sparked and sizzled in a net of azure energy, and flopped down at his side, completely useless.

#

Adumar

Galactic Alliance Star Destroyers had oriented themselves so that their flank weapons would be facing the incoming Imperial fleet's entry vector. Fighters waited above and below the formation. And, hanging back behind the ships were the Adumarian orbital defense platforms. The same design as the Golan defense stations. For Nek Bwua'tu the waiting was almost more stressful than the fighting. One could only go over battle plans so many times before one started to second guess oneself. And that could be far more dangerous than having a few ships not be in the perfect positions. So all that was left to do now was…

Flashes of light resolved themselves into the silver slivers of Star Destroyers. The Imperial fleet had arrived. And as expected their flank weapons were already pointed at the Galactic Alliance fleet. Space was plunged into a psychedelic haze as both fleets began exchanging fire. The orbital defense platforms soon joined in, firing between some of the Alliance Star Destroyers.

And then much smaller flashes of light began to appear and resolve themselves into fighters. TIE Defenders and Avengers. The TIEs met X-wings and A-wings. Some TIEs made it past the Alliance fighters and headed toward the defense platforms. Short range Adumarian fighters poured out of the defense platforms to meet them. And again the TIE pilots seemed to be guided by someone powerful in the Force. Nek Bwua'tu suspected that the dark man Luke Skywalker had mentioned was behind this.

"Another ship just…" Zuul Zuzu pointed at the screen. The largest flash of light yet resolved itself into an enormous black triangular vessel. The bow was like a large fang that tapered, and terminated toward the stern. An _Eclipse_-class Star Destroyer. The battle plan had not even taken this possibility into account. Admiral Bwua'tu's mind began running through possible scenarios and countermeasures. The _Shield of Dac_ shook as it began taking heavy fire from the monstrosity. The _Mon Mothma_, nearby, began taking a similar beating.

Admiral Bwua'tu began issuing new orders, mostly to reposition some of his ships. But also to redirect some of the fighter squadrons. General Hiroyuki Niathal relayed these orders. The less the Empire knew about Bwua'tu's condition, the better.

The _Eclipse's _barrages let up a tiny bit as the massive Star Destroyer turned slightly, to orient its bow toward the _Coruscanti __Phoenix_. The smaller vessel's deflector shield turned a pale blue and flickered violently as it crumpled. The _Phoenix_ itself detonated as it, too, was crushed. Admiral Bwua'tu had expected a superlaser, not that a repulsor weapon was any better. It was potentially worse.

Coruscant

A glass bladed knife was suddenly rocketing though the air. Vestara was not the type of person to possess just one shikkar. Thorden felt a horrible stabbing pain in his chest as the shikkar's glass blade pierced his heart. Yet he still managed to charge forward, and bat aside the incoming Force lightning the Sith woman had directed his way. Dropping the lightsaber in his left hand he launched a spray of blue Force lightning. Vestara blocked that with her own arc of Force lightning. He dropped his other lightsaber and sent more Force lightning her way. She caught the second spray of lightning on her blade. Thorden's heart had stopped beating, yet he continued to launch Force lightning. He then fell forward onto Vestara's blade. The Sith deactivated her blade and Thorden's body thumped to the ground.

Allana summoned one of Thorden's lightsabers to her left hand as she ran toward Vestara. A long, silver blade materialized as she swung the weapon at the Sith Saber. Vestara's blade burned to life just in time to keep Allana from taking her head off. Allana felt herself burning with anger as Thorden's presence began to vanish from the Force. No, it was Thrace's anger.

#

Adumar

Jaina felt the sudden extinguishing of thousands of lives as the _Coruscanti Phoenix_ was breached in thousands of places, and people instantly froze, and/or suffocated.

Jaina felt a sense of alarm from her husband Jag as the three TIEs, one of which was an Avenger, on his tail began doing significant damage to his Clawcraft. Jaina destroyed another TIE Defender and carefully proceeded to make her way to her husband. She barely managed to dodge another TIE whose pilot was intent on ramming her. Or at least the dark man was intent on the pilot ramming her. That TIE Defender detonated, and Seff and the Wookiee Jedi Lowbacca went zooming by in chase of another bogey.

Jaina felt her subconscious screaming at her and rolled her X-wing onto it left side. A split second later a large turbolaser beam passed through where she would have been. She felt a sense of relief from Jag as she came up behind his pursuers.

#

The _Eclipse_ was headed straight for one of the Galactic Alliance Star Destroyers. The smaller vessel began to turn in order to present its left flank. The _Eclipse_ turned slightly to its left, and smashed into its prey before it could get out of the way. The deflector shields of both vessels rippled hatefully. Flames began erupting along the hull of the smaller destroyer as it was crushed. The flaming debris seemed to flow along the _Eclipse's_ right flank. The larger ship's deflector shield stopped rippling seconds later.

Nek Bwua'tu briefly wondered if the _Eclipse's _ramming maneuver was an indication that its repulsor weapon needed time to recharge. But then it occurred to him that ramming likely used up less energy. And perhaps Lecersen-he was no doubt commanding the most powerful vessel in his fleet-only wanted it to appear as though the weapon needed time to charge. The admiral would thus proceed as though that were the case.

The _Eclipse_ kept up its fire, allowing a couple Imperial Destroyers to start moving toward the defense platforms. Swarms of TIEs used the larger vessels as cover. The destroyers began taking out individual fighters trying to protect the platforms. Like angry piranha beetles the TIEs swarmed toward the inadequately defended battle stations. A couple of the Imperial fighters would detonate against a defense platform's deflector shield, allowing other TIEs to sneak under. They then easily took out the shield generators and moved away to let the Star Destroyers finish the job.

The _Mon Mothma_ lurched forward as the _Eclipse_ oriented its bow in that direction. The_ Eclipse's_ crew was only happy enough to crush the now exposed defense platform. The Galactic Alliance hadn't prepared for this. Admiral Bwua'tu knew Adumar could not be saved, and thus issued the order to retreat.

#

Coruscant

Darth Blight ducked out of the way as Thrace swung the trailing edge of his saberstaff toward the Sith's neck. If he'd had another working arm… Using the Force, Thrace lifted his left arm. Straight into the path of Darth Blight's lightsaber. Through his left shoulder Thrace sent an arc of blue Force lightning into his prosthetic arm. He directed a Force push toward his opponent as the arm exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.

Darth Blight's left arm, which held his lightsaber, took the brunt of the explosion. He put up his other arm to shield his face. The Barabel started to spin away from Thrace as the Chiss Jedi swung his lightsaber. The golden blade cut a nasty gash into his side, but did not cut him in two.

As Thrace was preparing to finish Blight off, his danger sense screamed at him. He launched into a back flip less than a second before a large piece of ferrocrete hit the floor where he'd been standing. A portion of the wall, to Darth Blight's left then exploded inward. The Barabel Sith turned and scrambled through the hole. In a sort of stumbling run, Darth Blight managed to make his way over to the _Eviscerator_.

Thrace spun around to see that Vestara had backed Allana into a corner, and was mercilessly swinging away at her. The Sith Saber had taken Thorden's other lightsaber. Thrace charged at Vestara. The Sith Force-threw Allana to the side before turning toward Thrace.

Thrace could suddenly feel the _Sarlagesus_ hovering beyond the wall behind Allana. The apartment complex began to shake as the Evelyn and the _Eviscerator_ proceeded to exchange fire. Thrace made his way to Allana while Vestara moved toward the hole the _Eviscerator_ had made. The Sith Saber leapt through the hole just as the _Sarlagesus_ blasted a hole in the opposite wall.

Thrace glanced around, as he and Allana scrambled through the newly made hole, to see where his father's body was. A pile of clothes lay where Thorden had fallen. Some of Thrace's anger turned to relief as he realized that his father had become one with the Force. He'd been saved.

High powered laser bolts were flying through the air as Allana and Thrace exited the building and ran toward the _Sarlagesus_. The two freighters hovered a couple of meters above the ground, as they traded fire. The Jedi jumped onto the lowered boarding ramp as a pair of _Besulike_ fighters soared down toward the _Sarlagesus_. The customized freighter lurched backward before the ramp had even closed up into the ship. The inertia propelled the two Jedi slightly upward, so that they didn't fall out, and forward toward the cockpit. They managed to grab onto the rear seats and head forward.

Allana scrambled into the pilot's seat. Being more powerful in the Force, she'd be better at avoiding enemy fire. And Thrace currently had only one functional arm. "Weapons?" Allana asked.

Evelyn beeped a response.

"She shunted it to the engines," Thrace translated after a quick glance at one of the screens. "Hyperdrive's yellow, though."

The _Sarlagesus_ began to buck as it took enemy fire. Allana rolled the vessel so that less vulnerable places were hit. Thrace was beginning to worry that he'd have to pump more energy into his father's vessel, which would likely mean losing his right arm, when the stars suddenly became lines, which promptly melted into the mottled gray of hyperspace.

"I used the dark side again," Thrace said suddenly.

Allana placed a comforting hand on his left shoulder. "You'll be okay, Thrace. Your... father had far less support than you do. And he..."

"Became one with the Force," Thrace finished.

Allana nodded, and was quiet a moment. "It's not good to hold your feelings in when something like this..."

"But you know how I feel," Thrace mumbled.

"So there's no sense in holding it in," Allana pointed out. She could feel Thrace trying to construct a wall, to keep her out. He didn't want to appear weak. "Sometimes, it takes more strength to let someone else know how much you're hurting." Allana felt the wall waver, and weaken slightly. Thrace tried to bolster that wall, to keep it from crumbling, but it was almost like holding back an avalanche. "I won't tell anyone about this."

"Bloody well better not," Thrace mumbled, half joking. He looked into Allana's gray eyes a moment. He'd always thought of gray as a rather bland color, and her eyes were the most beautiful he'd ever seen. He suddenly kissed her. They both pulled away a couple seconds later.

"That wasn't..." Allana started.

"What either of us expected." Thrace finished. "Yeah, I know." He sighed. "I don't know, it just, you know..."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hapes Consortium**

"Sir, with all due respect we're about to end this civil war," Admiral Gavin Darklighter said. "If my fleet pulls away now, the Hapan blockade will be broken." All the progress he'd made would be for nothing.

Gavin Darklighter wasn't entirely convinced that he was on the right side of this. The situation was similar to the rebellion against the Empire. But the Galactic Alliance had elected to join the Consortium, in hopes that by joining the more powerful side it would be possible to end the conflict sooner. Well, not anymore.

"I understand that," Intelligence Director Dif Scaur said. "I would not call you away like this if we had another option. But the defense of the Alliance takes precedence."

Gavin shook his head. "I will comply, under protest."

"Duly noted," the director said sourly. The transmission ended.

"Idiot!" Some of his officers were no doubt staring at him, but he didn't care.

**_Errant Venture_: Orbiting Borleias**

Leia and Han met up with Allana and Thrace as they descended the _Sarlagesus_' boarding ramp. The Chiss Jedi's left arm was missing, and he wore a black coat, with metal studded shoulders, that was a wee bit short on him.

"Lando's not gonna be too happy about that," Han said, nodding toward Thrace's left shoulder.

"Met up with that Barabel Sith," Thrace explained. "He disabled my arm with Force lightning, and I discovered that it made a passable I.E.D. Be sure to tell Lando that last bit."

Han frowned.

"Luke needs us in ops," Leia told Thrace as she walked over to him. She frowned at his left shoulder.

* * *

**"So, Darth** Plagueis is the dark man. And your father, Thorden was one of his apprentices," Luke summarized, after Allana and Thrace had described their adventure.

Thrace nodded. "Your turn."

Luke nodded. "Lecersen has an _Eclipse_-class Star Destroyer."

"Oh," Allana said. "That's nice."

"And," Luke continued, ignoring his grandniece's comment, "this Darth Plagueis, it seems, is coordinating Lecersen's Imperial forces."

"Destroying the _Eclipse_ from the outside isn't an option," Leia said.

"Not a good one, anyway," Han commented. "We'd have to crash half a fleet worth of Star Destroyers into it."

"We'll have to do it from the inside," Leia said.

**Kuat**

Near the center of Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet hung the _Shield of Dac_. To the left and right, respectively, were the _Mon Mothma_ and the _Akbar_. A number of Golan Defense platforms had dropped out of hyperspace to reinforce the Galactic Alliance fleet.

Talon Karrde's fleet remained nearby, and would enter the system shortly after the Imperial fleet arrived. Admiral Bwua'tu would have preferred to combine both fleets into one. Lecersen would certainly be expecting Karrde's fleet to return, so Bwua'tu didn't expect to be able to stage an effective ambush with them, anyway. But, the Bothan admiral could not have someone discovering that the Jedi were involved. Not when Dif Scaur had labeled them as criminals.

Karrde's fleet would arrive after the battle had begun, when it was unlikely that anyone would be digging too deeply into the nature of his fleet. Zuul Zuzu had given Luke Skywalker Admiral Bwua'tu's battle plans, so that the two fleets could better coordinate with each other.

Mighty flashes of light announced the arrival of the Imperial fleet. The largest of these flashes resolved itself into the monstrous obsidian dagger of the _Eclipse_. Appearing above and below the behemoth was the rest of the fleet, the rest of the fleet that was here at the moment. The _Eclipse_ began turning its right flank toward the Alliance fleet.

Smaller, scattered flashes of light resolved themselves into TIE Defenders. X-wings and A-wings surged forward to intercept the Imperial fighters. About half of the TIEs remained to deal with the Alliance fighters while the others proceeded toward some of the Golan Defense platforms. Like a single minded swarm they assaulted the defense platforms, evading fire, and weaving in between and destroying Alliance fighters.

Twin Suns squadron, currently led by Tahiri Veila, dropped out of hyperspace along with the rest of what had been designated as Talon Karrde's fleet. Twin Suns, and Rogue squadron, under the command of Corran Horn, made their way over to the besieged Golan Defense platforms. As with the two previous battles, Tahiri could feel a certain intelligence exerting itself over, and guiding the Imperial pilots. There was a connectivity which reminded her of the hive mind of a Killik nest. It was as though the pilots had been made into Joiners, at least temporarily.

Corran Horn missed the days when the Empire used TIE fighters and Interceptors. Unlike the Defenders, they had lacked deflector shields and proton torpedo launcher. The newer TIEs were bad enough without some Sith Lord helping them out. He felt a sense of relief from his daughter, Jysella and her wingmate, Yaqueel, as they destroyed another TIE. If just one of those TIEs hit one of the defense platforms' deflector shields it could allow one of the other TIEs to get under the shield, dooming the entire 'engineless Star Destroyer', as Corran preferred to call them.

**_Minotaur_**

Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld, after making the request to Lecersen, had been given command of the _Minotaur_ and three other Star Destroyers, the _Death Blow_, the _Chupacabra_, and the _Daala_. It wasn't a whole fleet, of course. But, it would be enough to demonstrate his military skill to his fellow Moff.

Gatterweld was quite impressed by the coordination of Lecersen's fleet. He'd heard stories of Emperor Palpatine endowing Imperial forces with such a capacity. Zedekiah had always known Lecersen was hiding something. Of course, all Moffs were. _I should know._ But he hadn't expected his fellow Moff to be hiding something of such great magnitude as an alliance with a Sith. And perhaps more than one. He moved his left hand toward his pocket, in which resided that 'family heirloom', then thought better of it. _Not here._

Gatterweld's mini-fleet focused the majority of its attention on the _Shield of Dac_ and its two escorts, the _Mon Mothma_ and the _Akbar_. General Hiroyuki Niathal was bound to be on the _Shield_. And perhaps that was where Admiral Bwua'tu had been moved to. The Mon Cal vessel was slightly larger and more powerful than the standard Star Destroyer.

Zedekiah Gatterweld sighed as a potentially dangerous plan began to take shape. But, with all the chaos it was possible that no one would notice. And if Gatterweld was successful, or came close enough, he'd certainly prove his worth to Lecersen and his Sith friend.

**_Shield of Dac _**

The _Death Blow_ suddenly lurched forward and increased power to its forward deflector shield. The Imperial Star Destroyer was headed straight toward the_ Shield of_ _Dac_. "I suggest we move-"

"Order the _Mon Mothma_ onto an intercept course with the _Blow_," Admiral Bwua'tu interrupted General Niathal. "They want us to move the _Shield_," he explained after the general had relayed the order.

The nose of the _Death Blow_ suddenly slowed down. The stern of the Star Destroyer slowly swung to the left, orienting the weapons trench toward the _Shield of Dac_ and its escorts. The _Akbar_ commenced fire on the _Death Blow's_ stern as the Imperial vessel moved forward, or to the left of its original orientation. The _Shield of Dac's_ forward deflector shield began to ripple furiously as the_ Death Blow_ focused almost half its firepower on the Mon Calamari cruiser's bow.

If the _Death Blow_ continued forward, it would scrape against the forward shields of the _Shield of Dac_. Any attempts by the _Mon Mothma_ to ram the _Death Blow_ would slam the Imperial Star Destroyer into the Mon Calamari cruiser. That would cripple and most likely destroy all three vessels. The _Akbar_ would likely also suffer significant damage, and would be left to fend off a trio of enemy Star Destroyers.

General Niathal relayed Admiral Bwua'tu's order for the _Mon Mothma_ to break off its intercept course, and turn toward the right. Power was shunted from the Alliance Star Destroyer's starboard side weapons to the port side batteries. The _Death Blow_ increased power to its port deflector to deal with the extra fire.

The _Minotaur_ and the _Daala_ began attacking the_ Akbar_, while the _Chupacabra_ went after the _Mon Mothma_. "Get Darklighter's fleet," Admiral Bwua'tu told General Niathal.

**_Eclipse_**

"Another fleet just dropped out of hyperspace."

Lecersen glanced at the sensor screen. The majority of this fleet was heading toward the _Eclipse's_ right flank. But two of the vessels had broken off to join the _Shield of Dac_ and its escorts. "Fire when they're in range," the Moff ordered. "And when they're too close to break off, open the Ninth Gate." Lecersen could feel his excitement growing as Alliance vessels began to close in on both sides. Fire was exchanged for a few minutes, and then space lit up like a supernova.

**_Kuati Dagger _**

The bridge of the _Kuati Dagger_ began to shudder under the _Eclipse's_ increased rate of fire. Alarms began to wail. and the lights dimmed. "Shields down to sixty nine," an officer shouted over the klaxons, which soon went silent.

The _Eclipse's_ rate of fire soon subsided back to a merely monstrous rate, but the damage had already been done. Five of Admiral Darklighter's Star Destroyers had been just about obliterated, three floated dead in space, and the rest, including the _Kuati Dagger_, had sustained significant damage.

Admiral Gavin Darklighter imagined that the _Eclipse's_ secret weapon-well, it wasn't secret anymore-had brought the massive Star Destroyer dangerously close to an overload. A hit to the right area...

The admiral activated the comm as it began buzzing. A small holo-image of General Niathal appeared near the human admiral's chair.

* * *

**A portion** of the _Eclipse's_ deflector shield, near one of the hangars, began to ripple slightly as what remained of Admiral Darklighter's fleet focused their fire. With his X-wing inside the _Stronghold _and connected to its navigational systems, Luke Skywalker flew the Corellian Corvette toward the hangar bay of the _Eclipse_. R2D2 controlled the weapons systems. The _Millennium __Falcon_, the _Sarlagesus_, and eleven StealthXs, mostly from Jaina's _Flaming Swords_ squadron, remained with the _Stronghold_ to provide defense against a throng of TIE Defenders and Avengers.

The _Stronghold_ began to disintegrate under the relentless fire of the _Eclipse's_ weapons. Luke was counting on it. The Corellian Corvette was meant to be a shield, not a sword. Before what was left of the Corvette could crash into the _Eclipse's_ hangar Luke pulled it up. There were sparks as the deflector shields of both vessels clashed.

"Disengage," Luke told Artoo. An internal explosion tore a hole through the hull of the _Stronghold_, and an X-wing rocketed out. Preprogrammed to go downward after the X-wing's departure, what remained of the Corvette slammed down onto the hull of the _Eclipse_. One of the _Stronghold's_ engines exploded against the great Star Destroyer's deflector shield, near the hangar bay. A pair of proton torpedoes put a small, temporary hole in the shield. Two StealthXs and Luke's X-wing managed to sneak through a split second before the deflector shield recovered.

* * *

**Allana whipped** the _Sarlagesus_ around as, through her Force bond with Thrace, she felt the familiar energy signature of the_ Eviscerator _approaching. The _Sarlagesus'_ shield rippled as the YT-4900 freighter and a TIE opened fire. Along with the weapons turrets above and below the body of the YT-4900 freighter, a third one had been installed between the mandibles and below the cockpit.

Allana could hear the scraping of buzz droids scurrying about. Evelyn had sent them to the places most likely to need repairs during the battle. "Them again," she muttered unnecessarily, as she felt the presences of the Barabel Sith and Vestara.

Thrace reached out to Seff Hellin, who was nearby. The older Jedi sent back a sense of reassurance as he joined up with the _Sarlagesus_. His StealthX rocketed toward the Avenger, firing away.

Like two oversized fighters the two freighters charged at each other, firing all their weapons. The _Eviscerator _took some damage as a torpedo exploded against its deflector shield. The YT-4900 freighter launched another pair of torpedoes at the _Sarlagesus_. "I got this," Thrace reassured Evelyn, the ship's droid brain, as he used the Force to slam one torpedo into the other. Space was lit up like a short lived fireball, like one of those elements which decayed after a few seconds.

**_Eclipse_**

Drikl Lecersen stifled a curse as he returned the comlink to his pocket. Krayt had just informed the Moff that three Jedi had gotten aboard the ship. Lecersen knew better than to underestimate the Jedi. He shook his head. This could be bad. But arrangements had been made for such an eventuality.

* * *

**A young** woman with long red hair ran around the corner, her eyes glowing an angry amber. Jaina charged toward her. Allana's clone launched an arc of crimson fire at the Jedi Master, who deflected it with her lightsaber. Their weapons met in a shower of sparks.

Jaina created a tensor field around herself as less than a second before the Sith kicked her in the sternum and sent her slamming into the bulkhead. Red Force lightning slammed into Jaina as she slid down the wall. She groaned. As her niece's clone prepared to behead Jaina, she reached out in the Force and deactivated the red lightsaber. Luke had done that to her a few times when she was younger. Jaina Force slammed her opponent into a wall and jumped back to her feet. She was a little bit dizzy.

* * *

**Darth Krayt** could feel the storm troopers dying as the two Skywalkers approached his location. If the two Jedi got close enough, they could potentially disrupt the Sith Lord's coordination of the Imperial forces. If Lecersen did not arrive first, then Krayt might have to leave without him. Or, he could fight the Skywalkers. But Darth Krayt did not want to be one of those poor fools who underestimated them and died as a result.

Darth Krayt felt Lecersen's relief in the Force as the Moff finally reached the Sith Meditation Sphere. The human scrambled up the ship's lowered boarding ramp; there was sweat on his forehead. "The Jedi brought fighters into the ship."

"Bugger," Lecersen muttered. They were going to destroy the _Eclipse_ from the inside out.

"Not all our plans work out," Krayt said. "That is why those who are wise have many."

* * *

**The clone** was drawing heavily on the dark side. And after being struck by Force lightning a second time, Jaina was growing tired. Allana's clone continued to batter the Jedi Master's defenses. She swung again, almost knocking the lightsaber out of Jaina's hand. The Jedi Master backed up and, just as expected, the Sith swung her weapon again, with even more force. Jaina shut off her lightsaber, and reactivated it when the clone was facing away from her. Allana's clone shrieked as the lightsaber blade pierced her spine, just below the shoulders. She tumbled to the floor, motionless.

Jaina felt horrible. She knew she hadn't been given a choice. The poor girl had begun her life being tortured by Abeloth, so that the monster could feed off her suffering. And then the girl had somehow been 'rescued'-by that Sith with the tattooed face, most likely, and used as a pawn. Used to keep the Jedi from getting to him so that he could escape.

Jaina deactivated both lightsabers, attached them to her belt, and picked up her niece's dead clone. The Jedi Master reached out toward the tattooed man's presence, as she ran to the hangar bay by which she'd entered the _Eclipse_. The Sith Lord had left the mammoth Star Destroyer. There was another presence with him. Lecersen, probably. The Sith Lord had no doubt remained nearby so that he could continue to coordinate the Imperial forces.

Luke and his son, Ben deflected countless bolts of crimson fire as they ran toward the hangar. With the tattooed Sith having departed from the _Eclipse_, there was no sense in staying aboard. They reached the hangar moments later to find Jaina putting Allana's dead clone into her StealthX's cargo compartment. The Jedi needed to have the proper evidence if the charges against Allana were to be dropped.

The three Jedi were soon in their fighters, and began firing their laser cannons and launching proton torpedoes. After a couple minutes, Luke led them out of the hangar. There was a large explosion inside, a second later. The three Jedi put their fighters into terrain following mode and, remaining under the _Eclipse's_ deflector shield, proceeded to take out its shield generators.

* * *

**The _Chupacabra'_s** shields flickered violently under the relentless pounding of the _Mon Mothma_ and one of Admiral Darklighter's Star Destroyers. Fire began slipping past the shield, ripping off chunks of hull plating. Eventually the deflector shield buckled, and a few more targeted barrages rendered the Imperial Star Destroyer dead in space. The _Death Blow_ was in a similar state, while the _Minotaur_ and the _Daala_ had gone into a retreat.

The Galactic Alliance fleet maintained a steady stream of fire as the Imperial fleet made the retreat back to Adumar. A number of Star Destroyers, both Alliance and Imperial, including what remained of the _Eclipse_, floated dead in space. Five of Admiral Darklighter's Star Destroyers had been turned into giant slag heaps. This battle had only been a partial victory.

**_Shield of Dac_**

Luke Skywalker walked into the room to find Admiral Bwua'tu and General Niathal engaged in an intense game of holochess. The Jedi Master was impressed with their skill. They seemed to be thinking at least ten moves ahead. Luke considered himself a decent player, but rarely could think more than five moves ahead.

He felt a mild sense of frustration from Hiroyuki when Nek eventually managed to defeat him. "He wins every single time," said the gravelly voiced Mon Calamari general as he turned toward Luke. "I'm guessing you didn't come here just to see me get humiliated."

"No." Luke sighed. "The good news is that the charges against Allana have been dropped. But, the bad news is that we have a new Chief of State."

"Don't say it," Bwua'tu muttered.

"I don't I have to," Luke said.

**_Minotaur_**

"Dif Scaur," Moff Drikl Lecersen told Darth Krayt, naming the new Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance. "And I also recently learned, from the Mandalorians, that Scaur is Daala's source. I have informed Gatterweld of this, and he agrees that Dif Scaur must not be harmed."

Krayt nodded his tattooed head in approval. "What have you learned about Gatterweld's run for Head of State?"

"I will be surprised if he is unsuccessful," Lecersen said. "His public condemnations of my actions and formal apology to Adumar for allowing me to 'turn the world into a battleground' are making him even more popular among his fellow Moffs. Gatterweld has also taken a fleet to the Hapes Consortium to reestablish the blockade against the Freedom Federation."

"We must keep a close eye on Gatterweld," Darth Krayt said. "I don't distrust him, but he is hiding something."

"There does seem to be something peculiar about the man, aside from his eccentricities," Drikl Lecersen agreed.

"I did not devise the maneuver he used against the _Shield of Dac_ and those two other Star Destroyers," Plagueis continued. "Unless he had known exactly where those vessels were going to be, he could not have planned such a thing."

"So it was spur of the moment," Lecersen reasoned.

The Sith Lord nodded. "Now, consider the precision needed for such a feat."

Lecersen's eyes widened so slightly that most beings would have missed it. "He used the Force?"

"How else?"

**_Poison Moon_**

"I had high hopes for Thorden," Darth Plagueis told his apprentice, Vestara Khai. "I believed that he was destined to play a very important role in the Grand Plan. But, I was wrong. That role will have to be played by another."

The Sith Lord placed a hand on Vestara's shoulder. "You demonstrated great power and skill in the Force, by killing Thorden. A mere Sith Saber would not be able to do this. From now on, you shall be called Darth Nefaria."

"We are proud of you," said Darth Blight, who stood nearby.


End file.
